Because Chris Christie killed the first iteration.

You know, it’s a really easy thing to just Google. The deal was half from the Feds and half from NY/NJ. The $1 billion is just the first portion appropriated by Congress for this early work.

Why shouldn’t it? That’s like asking “why should the federal government be funding construction of highways that will be used by private cars?” As on the last post, this is a giant interstate project necessary for the biggest economic powerhouse in the US. That’s exactly the kind of infrastructure that is makes sense…

Depends on the entity. This isn’t an MTA project, so the worst of those work requirements are avoided. There are still a bunch of lessons we can learn from Europe to cut costs across the country and in NY especially, though. The contracting process and management structure are too that are applicable across the board. 

As a student, do I want to pay for the AD’s decision to pay a coach $7 million a year? Schools don’t have to pay, they can give scholarships alone if they want. “I’m used to the benefits of exploiting unpaid labor” isn’t a reason to continue that exploitation.

Should we then require kids on academic scholarship to forfeit their scholarship if they also get a job?

I think it’s pretty dumb for someone to argue that federal funds shouldn’t be used for this project because people in other states shouldn’t pay, despite the fact that the states in question are net donors to the rest of the country. If you’re going to argue that NY/NJ should pay for it themselves, you can’t ignore…

Honestly, I think your plan works. The only plus for corporate taxation is preventing the use of corporate benefits to be used by insiders as untaxed income (handled because there are some rules, albeit ones that can be avoided, that don’t allow deductions for certain “expenses”), but that is a small big that’s…

During those 8 years there was an existing agreement that Christie killed (ARC). Then they made a new agreement to move forward with a project to cover the issue (Gateway). Trump is saying now that he wants to kill that agreement. So yes, it’s 100% his fault. All he had to do was do nothing and just let the project…

Cool, as long as NY and NJ get to keep all the federal tax money that they send to moocher states elsewhere for their highways to nowhere. Funding would be easy. NJ/NY give more than they get from the feds.

Just a correction: it’s about expanding infrastructure in the long term, but maintaining in the short term. They can’t shut down either of the existing 2 tunnels for desperately needed maintenance until the new 3rd tunnel is built to handle the traffic. The existing tunnels are 110 years old and are falling apart. If…

There are a lot of ways that American infrastructure building could be a lot better, but even knowing that we should still build important projects. The fact that Europe is much better than us as building doesn’t change the fact that the existing tunnels are 110 years old and falling apart and we need a third one.

Honestly in favor of calling it the “Trump Bigly Access Tunnel” if he’ll actually fund the damn thing.

It’s his fault because he’s trying to kill the deal put in place by the previous administration. Before this project, there was the ARC tunnel to do the same thing and that was killed by Chris Christie and resulted in a waste of $300 million. There was a deal in place that shared costs because NY/NJ/Feds; all Trump…

That was the ARC project, actually a different one. Tunnel would actually be complete by now if he hadn’t. Fun fact, though: Christie and Trump are on the same side.

NJ/NY paying half and the Feds covering the other half is pretty fair. The existing tunnels are literally over a hundred years old, so it’s certainly good long term value.

Why should we do a bad thing just because it won’t literally end the country? Getting punched in the face sucks, but it’s not as bad as dying. Does that mean you shouldn’t say anything when an asshole punches you in the face?

It’s true, the French have it easy. New York has unions and is old, whereas Paris was literally built 5 years ago and is full of cheap labor with no regulations at all. Really makes you think.

FYI, it’s so important now because Chris Christie killed, after making the feds waste $300 million, the last attempt to make another tunnel. Never going to forget that asshole choosing to end a critical project because it made him look tough.

My personal favorite was a guy at Target playing music from his shitty phone’s speakers while he was wearing giant Beats headphones around his neck as a fashion statement.